History of the Royal Air Force (Part II)

Volume II of III in the documentary series chronicling the history of the RAF. (c) Classic Pictures, 1996.

[@Chilly_Billy]

Thanks for resurrecting all of these great, old documentaries. When television was worth watching.

[@drupiROM]

I agree, grew up in Eastern Europe and from the latter part of the '90s we got access to Discovery Channel on cable TV. This type of documentaries, without Michael Mann effects and exagerations were what we watched and enjoyed.

[@shirleydrury5565]

Thank you for this upload very much enjoyed😊 regards 😊😊😊

[@mohammedsaysrashid3587]

A wonderful historical coverage documentary about British Royals air force...after WW2...early years of first cold War 🥶.....thank you ( 🙏 Mike Guardia) channel for sharing this magnificent documentary

[@NoMalarkey]

The demo pilot at 24:21 is quite a character

[@allandavis8201]

Going back to the early minutes of the narration Richard Todd (a very much respected Airborne infantryman During WWII and a fantastic actor) said that as soon as WWII was over the RAF was vastly cut back with RAF Stations, Personnel and Aircraft being surplus to requirements (the bean counters and the hope for lasting peace being the reasons given), which is actually true, but only if there WAS a lasting Peace and our Aviation Industry was 100% the suppliers of Aircraft to meet the then current and future needs of the RAF, but unfortunately both of those things never came to pass, the MOD (ministry of Defence) or its equivalent in post war years, decided that, with the collusion of the then government and successive governments that they were not going to buy British 🇬🇧 forever and that our aviation industry was to large and they successfully forced companies to merge, go bankrupt or had their WORLD BEATING EXPERIMENTAL AIRCRAFT rejected in favour of foreign aircraft manufacturers, and thus the demise of both the British aviation industry and the effectiveness of the RAF, and to this day I blame the bureaucrats (RATS 🐀 being the operative word) and the SPINELESS politicians who listened to the RATS 🐀 OF WHITEHALL, admittedly the country was virtually bankrupt and owed millions of pounds (dollars) to the American war industry, so they were forced to consider buying American aircraft (no political interference there………..NOT) and “encouraging” the British 🇬🇧 aviation industry to reduce the numbers of companies that had (and they knew it would happen) the knock on effect of less advanced aircraft being produced and the “brain drain” of the best designers and engineers to other countries (????), leaving those that remained to be left with the crumbs from the top table. Without a shadow of doubt our country, our aviation industry and most importantly the RAF were betrayed by our own government and the aviation industry/politicians of other countries. @ 14:03 I would have been thrilled to hear the sound of the “Old Growler” if it wasn’t for the damn bagpipes, I love the sound of the pipes but I must prefer aircraft music.